Employment Law News

The Employment Situation:  August 2006

Total non farm payroll employment increased by 128,000 in August, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.7 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.  Payroll employment grew notably over the month in education and health services; several other industries had modest increases.  Average hourly earnings rose by 2 cents, or 0.1 percent, in August following larger gains in the prior 2 months.
  
Unemployment (Household Survey Data)
  
The number of unemployed persons (7.1 million) and the unemployment rate (4.7 percent) were essentially unchanged in August.  A year earlier, the number of unemployed persons was 7.4 million, and the jobless rate was 4.9 percent.
  
Over the month, the unemployment rates for most major worker groups--adult men (4.1 percent), adult women (4.1 percent), teenagers (16.2 percent), whites (4.1 percent), and Hispanics (5.3 percent)--showed little or no change.  The jobless rate for blacks declined to 8.8 percent in August.  The unemployment rate for Asians was 2.9 percent, not seasonally adjusted.  (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)
  
Total Employment and the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
  
Both total employment (144.6 million) and the employment-population ratio (63.1 percent) were essentially unchanged in August.  The labor force participation rate held at 66.2 percent.  (See table A-1.)
  
Persons Not in the Labor Force (Household Survey Data)
   
About 1.6 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in August, the same as a year earlier.  These individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months.  They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.  Among the marginally attached, there were 448,000 discouraged workers in August, up slightly from a year earlier.  Discouraged workers were not currently looking for work specifically because they believed no jobs were available for them.  The other 1.1 million marginally attached had not searched for work for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.

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	Did You Know?
	About at will employment In certain states, employers do not have the right to terminate employees "at will" if the termination violates public policy, an implied employment contract, or an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.